Hey Zwift, I'm back!
Hi, my name is Scott and I think I have a problem. I have, once again, become addicted to Zwift.
After being an early adopter of Zwift, yes the beta phase when it was free, I had stepped away from the platform for a couple years. It had less to do with the platform itself but more my old Kickr which sounded like a whining cat that my neighbours in Melbourne were not too fond of. I ended up using Zwift as an interval platform, doing workouts in ERG mode in my biggest gear possible to minimise the noise. In the end it took the fun of Zwift away, turned me towards Trainer Road (gasp!), and convinced me that no matter what platform I used indoor training just simply sucked.
I sold my Kickr before I moved to NYC and begrudgingly trained indoors occasionally (like 3 times in 18 months) on my trusty Feedback sports Omnium rollers.
Then came COVID-19 and I noticed a huge increase in people training on Zwift in my Strava feed. At the time I was still running and hadn’t touched my bike in over 3 months due to a combination of things; constant sickness (was I patient zero?!) and a lack of motivation to churn out Prospect Park laps. During the 2nd week of quarantine, I started feeling less comfortable running through the streets, finding it hard to keep 6ft of space without constantly running on the un-closed roads (thanks Bill) when a mate told me Wahoo was having a sale. Three days later I had a new (to me) Kickr in my apartment. A late night stuck at my desk meant I was only able to get a quick 7-minute ride in to test the new setup but I could tell I was hooked.
Getting back into riding again my focus was on consistently riding again and not worrying about any specific training. The first week of having a Kickr again I did 146km on Zwift.
Last week however things really kicked (get it?) off. I started the week with a meetup ride with some friends in Australia, zwifting around New York and chatting via facebook messenger, it was a great way to catch up. The next day I did the Lucarelli and Castaldi Cup (thanks Charlie); it was my first Zwift race and I was very happy to finish with the bunch considering I haven’t done any intensity since cross season! The next day I did the mountain route which encompasses the Zwift epic KOM and the ridiculously named “bonus climb”. It was after this ride I came across Zwift Insider (told you I was addicted) and the route checklist that they had put together. I set this as a new challenge for myself to tick off as many of the routes as possible while bunkered down.
Doing a Zwift meetup with my mates back in Melbourne around Central Park. Wild times.
Further into the Zwift rabbit hole I came across news that the infamous Haute Route had partnered with Zwift to put together a 3-stage fondo/race. What a perfect way to tick off 3 new routes. I didn’t race any of the stages, instead focusing on tapping out a nice tempo up the climbs. I couldn’t help myself however when the finish lines came up always sprinting for what was probably 300th place.
Me and 1826 of my friends climbing Alpe du Zwift.
I finished the Haute Route having ticked off the Epic KOM (again), the “bonus” climb, Alpe du Zwift and my first ever Pretzel (which involved doing the Epic KOM + the bonus climb again). At the conclusion of the weekend I had ridden for 253.6km for the week which was my largest week since June 2019 and it was all indoors!
What’s next? Probably a step test, need to see how much of a mountain I have to climb to regain previous fitness (my guess is I’m about 50w down at the moment), a metric century (I don’t know if I’m crazy enough to do an imperial like VdV and Cullen) and to keep ticking off more routes. Worst case, I’ll be in Zwifters Anonymous next year.
I also got a new bike thanks to the drop shop. Looks pretty close to the one I ride now ↓
I am a New York City based cyclist formally from Melbourne. Races of less than an hour are my jam and I’m @wheresscott on the gram. You’ll find me taking photos to escape the accountant life and running through winter to escape the cold.
